What's Next? || Ant x Stephen

Countdown - Chapter Twenty-Eight

The boys were currently at a new years party, with people from work and their friends, in the pub, they'd spent most of the night together, only getting split up a few times whilst talking to separate producers, and executives.

They'd spent time just chatting to Dec and Ali. Stephen spent a good 10-15 minutes talking to David and Alesha. Eventually Stephen finished talking to them and started to try and find Ant. He noticed Ant and Dec in the corner of the pub, clearly talking to someone but couldn't see who, he didn't want to interrupt them so he just sat at the bar for a good few minutes drinking a pint.

Ant eventually found Stephen sitting at the bar on his own, and made his way over, and as he stood behind him, just inches away, he said "you look lonely" Stephen huffed out a laugh, trying to hide the blush growing on his face, as he could feel Ant's breath on his neck and the butterflies in his stomach, he smiled as turned his head to look at Ant. "Yeah, well- I didn't want to interrupt you and Dec"

Eventually Ant sat down next to Stephen, and ordered a pint, he looked at Stephen trying to read his body language. Which he'd gotten pretty good at over the last few years, he'd noticed the slightly smaller things Stephen does when he's nervous or when he's sad. Things most people wouldn't notice. Stephen Glanced over at Ant for a moment, then looked away, he didn't want Ant to worry about him, not tonight. Tonight was supposed to be nice party with their mates, a night where they could relax and not focus on the public or the fact that they are still getting paparazzi's following them at least 3 times a week. It was supposed to be a break from everything going on in their heads.

Stephen sat there with a tight feeling in his chest, it felt like he couldn't breath, he was fiddling with the glass in his hand. Ant watched the younger man clearly trying to keep his hands busy, just trying to do something. Stephen knows he's not great at hiding how he feels from Ant all the time, sometimes he can be great at it, but tonight, even though he didn't want Ant to know something was up, he also didn't have the motivation to hide it. He just had to hope that Ant wouldn't notice, however the fake smile that Stephen was giving Ant, the older man could see straight through.

Ant didn't want to make a big thing out of this in the middle of the pub, so instead he placed his hand at the bottom of Stephen's back and whispered to him "Come outside with me?" Stephen looked at Ant confused for a moment, but just nodded and followed him out. As they got outside Ant pulled Stephen over to sit on one of the benches outside, they sat opposite each other, and Ant looked at Stephen for a moment as Stephen was looking at the floor. 

"Take a deep breath" Ant said after a moment of silence, Stephen looked up from the floor, he made eye contact with Ant, as the older man motioned for Stephen to breath. Eventually the younger man started to take deep breaths, steadying his breathing out. He took one last breath, and then let out a long sigh. "Thanks..." Stephen said giving Ant a faint smile, his chest still feeling a bit tight, but he was feeling better at the same time, Ant gave him a sympathetic smile and moved to sit next to the younger man, wrapping arm across Stephen, and rubbing his hand across his shoulder, trying to comfort the younger man. 

They sat outside for a few more minutes, just talking about random things, and joking around. When Dec came outside trying to find the boys to let them know that the countdown for the new years was about to start, the boys stood up and made their way back into the pub. Someone had gotten the big ben countdown up on the TV, as everyone found their partners, ready for the new years kiss. 

Even though Ant and Stephen have been out publicly and to their friends for a while now, they were still a bit awkward with kissing or holding hands in public, even when their on TV together, when Ant would usually wind Stephen up by hugging him a bit too tight, or nudging in a jokey way, or when he would flirt with him in a teasing way, before they even got together. Sometimes they would be so nervous to lay even a finger on the other, because they thought someone would read into it some how and create a new story about the pair, and they'd been in the news enough this year just from coming out, so they had been a but paranoid the year or so. 

As the countdown reached 10 seconds, Ant gave Stephen a look as to ask if they were going to kiss at the end of the countdown, Stephen shrugged his shoulders at Ant, and whispered to him "Only if you want to" Ant gave Stephen a small smile, and took a step to his right, so that he was standing closer to the younger man, he slowly lowered his hand, and interlocked his fingers with Stephen, in their own little world, brought back to reality when they heard everyone shouting. 

"5..."

"4..."

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"HAPPY NEW YEAR"

Everyone shouted to each other, people kissing their partners, hugging their friends, and everyone talking rather loudly. 

The pair turned to face each other as Ant pulled the younger man into a kiss. Stephen smiled into the kiss and moved his hands to Ant's waist, Ant kept his hands on the collar of Stephen's jacket, as they pulled away from the kiss, Ant and Stephen looked at each other with a huge, loving smile on their faces. 

In this moment Stephen could only think about the future, about what he wanted in the future, and one thought that kept popping up was whether they were ready to take the next step. 

"Happy new year Anth" 

"Happy new year Stevie" 

He knew one thing. He wanted marry this man, he was ready for the future and whatever it brought. He was ready to ask him the question that could quite possibly change the course of his future.